Tonight, the Baltimore kid made good.
Steve Clevenger hit first career homer as an Oriole and it was a big one. In his 126th career at-bat with the club, Clevenger blasted a three-run shot off Sonny Gray. His homer off the American League ERA leader carried the Orioles to a 4-2 win over Oakland and a four-game sweep.
And he did it at Camden Yards in front of family and friends.
"I wasn't thinking about that right away until I got back into the dugout," he said. "It's awesome. Playing in...
For the Orioles, one big swing and one solid starting pitching performance led to a franchise first.
The Orioles beat Oakland 4-2 tonight to complete their first ever home four-game sweep of the A's. The Orioles are now 61-56 overall and moved five games over .500 for the first time since July 2. They are 15-7 in their past 22 games and 36-20 at home for the season.
Down 1-0 in the last of the fourth, designated hitter Steve Clevenger put the big swing on a Sonny Gray 0-2 pitch. Clevenger...
The Orioles have never swept a four-game home series against the Oakland A's. They have that chance tonight at Camden Yards. Their last four-game road sweep of Oakland was from May 22-25, 1987.
It is also fair to say these teams don't often play four-game series. But this is one, and the Orioles have outscored Oakland 30-11 the last three games after Sunday's 18-2 win.
Since they were no-hit by Hisashi Iwakuma on Wednesday, the Orioles have scored 30 runs in three games with 48 hits...
Does Henry Urrutia have ESP? Can he predict the future?
Yesterday, it seemed he could. Urrutia is a player that, right or wrong, has had a reputation of being a sub-par defensive outfielder. But he made a couple of nice plays in left field yesterday including one where he went over the wall to rob Danny Valencia of a home run in the seventh inning.
Before the game today, Urrutia told me that yesterday he sensed early in the game that he might get the chance to make a great play.
"It's funny,...
On Friday I posted this story on the Orioles' Triple-A Norfolk Tides affiliate. The Tides are in first place in the International League's South division by 5 ½ games with a record of 70-51.
In that story, we talked about the team overall and some of its strengths this year. But in a recent interview with Tides manager Ron Johnson, we also discussed several key players on the Norfolk team.
One is outfielder Henry Urrutia, who has since joined the Orioles. Urrutia was hitting .292 with 10...
Just four days after being no-hit, the Orioles today tied their club record for hits in a game. They had 26 in an 18-2 romp over the Oakland A's. Since that no-hitter on Wednesday at Seattle, the Orioles have scored 30 runs the last three games on 48 hits with 10 homers and a team average of .375.
"A lot of guys were (ticked) off at what happened," catcher Caleb Joseph said. "This club is capable of games like this. We have a lot of talent. After two walk-off wins, it might have been easy...
This time, no late-game heroics were necessary. Instead, an early-game barrage against the Oakland starting pitcher got it going. Then the O's offense kept it going.
Leading 6-2 in the last of the fifth, the Orioles added to their lead, producing their biggest inning of the year in a 18-2 romp over the Oakland A's this afternoon at Camden Yards. The Orioles had 26 hits to tie their team record set on Aug. 28, 1980 at Memorial Stadium against the California Angels.
The Orioles scored nine runs...
The Orioles have won the first two games of this series with Oakland with walk-off victories on homers in the 13th on Friday by Manny Machado and in the ninth last night by Chris Davis.
Davis now has 11 career multi-home run games (four this season) and has hit three career walk-off home runs. He also hit walk-off homers on June 23, 2014 against the White Sox and on May 14, 2009 versus Seattle as a member of the Texas Rangers.
Davis' recent hot streak is something never before seen in O's...
To say the least, 25-year-old right-hander Mychal Givens has gotten his big league career off to a strong start.
In five games in the majors for the Orioles, he has pitched 7 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing just three hits. Givens has walked one, fanned 10 and has a .125 batting average against. Lefty batters are just 1-for-11 against him. Right-handed hitters are 2-for-13 with eight strikeouts against the sidearm delivery he features.
Givens got his first major league win July 31 versus...
After he hit two more homers last night, including the walk-off homer in the last of the ninth, Chris Davis is now batting .259 with 34 homers and 88 RBIs in 113 games.
Davis is now on a pace for 48 homers and 124 RBIs. He is currently second in the American League in homers, one behind Seattle's Nelson Cruz. He now leads the AL in RBIs and his .555 slugging percentage ranks fifth in the league.
In this series against Oakland, Davis is 5-for-10 with three homers and five RBIs. In 13 games in...
For the first time since July 22-23, 1998, the Orioles have won two straight games on walk-off homers. Manny Machado and Chris Davis got that done the last two nights against Oakland.
Oakland was also victimized back in 1998 when Rafael Palmeiro and Lenny Webster delivered the game-winning homers.
With two outs in the last of the ninth tonight, Davis faced Oakland switch-pitcher Pat Venditte. The A's hurler threw left-handed against Gerardo Parra and then right-handed against Adam Jones.
He...
Another night, another comeback and another walk-off win for the Orioles.
Chris Davis homered to right on a 2-2 delivery from switch-pitcher Pat Venditte in the last of the ninth and the Orioles beat the Oakland A's 4-3. It was Davis' second homer of the night. Davis hit his 33rd and 34th homers in the win.
Davis has hit six homers his last six games and nine in his last 12 contests. Over his past 23 games, he has hit 15 home runs with 35 RBIs.
This is Davis' 11th career-multi-homer game and...
Orioles executive vice president Dan Duquette and manager Buck Showalter took questions from some of the club's season ticket holders today. It was their "State of the Orioles" address.
Here are some of the question and answers from this afternoon's program. The duo got more pointed and specific questions today than in previous years, in my opinion.
"Do not drop your expectations of what you expect us to be," Showalter told the fans early in the program. "We need you to hold us to a high...
For the first time since Sept. 10, 2013, Cuban outfielder Henry Urrutia will play in a major league game tonight. Urrutia underwent sports hernia surgery that limited him to 65 minor league games in 2014.
After a slow start this year at Triple-A - he was batting just .236 at the end of April - Urrutia has worked his way back to the Orioles. He was officially added to the roster today as Junior Lake was optioned back to Norfolk. Urrutia will start and bat eighth tonight as the DH against...
So in their first game after being no-hit, the Orioles scored eight runs on 16 hits and hit three home runs. In their first game after pitching the no-hitter, the Seattle Mariners allowed 15 runs on 21 hits. The Mariners are the first team to allow 15 or more runs in the first game following a no-hitter since the 1905 Red Sox.
So, yeah, baseball.
Of the six relief pitchers the Orioles used last night, the only one that gave up any runs was closer Zach Britton. Yep, baseball. You can't explain...
Here are some clubhouse quotes after the Orioles' marathon 8-6 win in 13 innings over the Oakland A's. Manny Machado hit the game-winning two-run homer in the 13th to end the 4-hour, 27-minute game.
Machado, Chris Davis and Adam Jones went 8-for-17 tonight with three homers and all eight RBIs.
It was Machado's second career walk-off homer. He hit one on July 29, 2014 against the Angels. It was the Orioles' fourth walk-off homer of the year. David Lough, Jonathan Schoop and Matt Wieters hit...
It took awhile, but the Orioles finally beat the Oakland A's on Friday night, right before it turned into Saturday morning.
Manny Machado's two-run homer to left provided the Orioles an 8-6 win in 13 innings. It was Machado's second career walk-off homer and his 25th home run of the season. With one out in the 13th, Caleb Joseph doubled off Drew Pomeranz and right-hander Aaron Brooks came on for Oakland to face Machado. He lined an 0-1 pitch into the left field seats to end the game that...
The Orioles have 49 games remaining, 26 at home, where they are 32-20 (.615). They start a 10-game homestand tonight hosting the Oakland Athletics for a four-game series.
The A's lost to Toronto on Thursday and got swept in a three-game series by a combined 18-7 score. Oakland is 51-65 for the season and 10-15 since the All-Star break.
The A's have made the most errors in the American League with 96, 10 more than the next closest team. The Orioles have made the fewest errors with 45, 11 less...
Baltimore native Steve Clevenger rejoined the Orioles today. He was recalled from Triple-A Norfolk and David Lough was designated for assignment. Clevenger gives the Orioles a healthy second catcher. Matt Wieters said he feels better though, as he deals with a sore hamstring and remains on the active roster.
"It's exciting to be here," Clevenger said this afternoon. "They are in a playoff run so I want to help the team any way I can."
In 75 games with Norfolk, Clevenger has hit .305 with...
Behind a pitching staff with the best ERA in the International League, a top-flight defense and an offense featuring two of the Orioles' top prospects, the Triple-A Norfolk Tides are having a very strong 2015 season.
The last time the Tides made the playoffs was 2005. The last time Norfolk won the IL championship was in 1985. One or both could change soon. On the verge of making the postseason for the first time since becoming an Orioles affiliate in 2007, Norfolk is 68-50 and leading its...